Tires, such as those used for passenger and light trucks, have a tread pattern which extends circumferentially about the tire. The tread may consist of a plurality of circumferential grooves and laterally extending slots which divide the tread into generally circumferentially extending ribs formed by a plurality of either continuous or discontinuous tread blocks. Many of the tread blocks are formed by slots, further divided by sipes. These sipes are formed by thin metal strips placed in the mold, referred to as sipe blades. These sipes provide various traction and stiffness characteristics to the tread blocks which also provide certain ride and handling characteristics for the vehicle. Even when the ribs of a tire are spaced symmetrically with respect to an equatorial plane of the tire, they can produce a moment on the tread at the contact patch with the roadway, causing a twisting force on the tire. This moment provides a tendency for a rolling tire to corner left or right and the vehicle to drift left or right when the steering wheel is released. This moment or torque at the contact patch is referred to as residual aligning torque (RAT). This global torque acting on the footprint is caused by the distribution of local shear forces generated at the contact surface of each tread lug. Control of these tire properties has merit for countering vehicle drift-pull due to road crown or other vehicle steering characteristics.